Scott Nicholas
General Atomics‘ aeronautical systems business has demonstrated a Raytheon-built radar warning receiver technology on a Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial system at a flight operations facility in Palmdale, California.
General Atomics said Monday the ALR-59A RWR was placed in a GA-ASI standard payload pod installed on a Predator B/MQ-9 Reaper to test if the receiver could help drone operators detect potential threats in or near “contested airspace.”
GA-ASI conducted the flight demonstration at its Gray Butte Flight Operations Facility in California.
“We are pleased to be the first company to demonstrate this capability on a remotely piloted aircraft and hope to make it available to interested customers on a quick-reaction basis,” said Claudio Pereida, executive vice president of mission systems at GA-ASI.
General Atomics noted its pod helped validate the RWR’s performance in various flight profiles and that the system met or exceeded the current threshold for ground and air threats.
The company also plans to integrate the receiver with a Link 16 military tactical data exchange network as part of additional RWR demonstrations later this year.
